


You're My Rival, But I Want You

by Acxia



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: BL, Cherry Blossom as feisty bottom, Cherry Blossom x Joe, Cherry Blossom/Joe - Freeform, Explicit Sexual, Joe - Freeform, Joe as gentle top, Kaoru x Nanjo, Kaoru/Nanjo, Kojiro Nanjo, M/M, MatchaBlossom, Sakurayashiki Kaoru, Sk8 the Infinity - Freeform, Slow Burn, Smut, Yaoi, cherry blossom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 22:16:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28999638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acxia/pseuds/Acxia
Summary: Cherry Blossom and Joe are rivals in the skateboarding world, competing to be the best, but no one knows about their secret relationship behind closed doors.
Kudos: 177





	1. Not Gonna Lose To Him

**Author's Note:**

> Started writing this 3 episodes into Sk8 the Infinity (more have come out as of now). The events in which I am writing about in the story are some that I have come up with as predictions for the future or my interpretation of what their relationship might have been like in the past. I hope you all enjoy!

_I can't let him win again._ _Victory will be mine this time. Joe...I won't lose to you._

"Adam, Cherry Blossom and Joe closing in on the final turn of the 'S' followed by three others! Who will get the upper hand on the final terrain?" the announcer says enthusiastically. "Who will advance to the S Grand Prix finals? It looks like a tough call!"

"Carla, calculate the angle." Cherry Blossom commands.

"Okay, master." Carla, Cherry Blossom's skateboarding AI assistant responds. After a quick scan, she responds "141 degrees" and points out the perfect turn radius and timing for Cherry Blossom.

"What's the fun in skateboarding if you're gonna use calculations? Skateboarding is about the thrill! The unknown is the best part! Smart-asses like you shouldn't be in this sport." Joe calls at him from beside him.

"Tch. An idiot would only go off of feeling." Cherry Blossom scoffed. Both of them leaned in for the turn and cleared it. The final terrain consisted of a straightaway with mini jumps and one massive jump. Past this final straightaway was the finish line. There in the front was the notorious skateboarder named Adam, who has won numerous contests and competitions in the skateboarding world. Even though the top 5 in this competition make it to the S Grand Prix Finals, Cherry Blossom still wanted to beat Joe, mostly for glory. He wanted to prove that brawn in skateboarding is faulty and that one should rely on calculations, no matter how simple. Joe's way of skating made Cherry Blossom boil with anger.

 _I won't lose to a man who doesn't respect the raw experience of skateboarding_ , thought Joe. His eyes narrowed as their boards were so close together that they could almost touch. They sideways glanced at each other with fire in their eyes and the hunger to win.

 _I won't lose to him!_ they both thought.

"Here come's the final terrain! Now it's up to the final jump! Who will stick the landing and who will eat the dust?" calls out the announcer. The contestants behind Cherry Blossom and Joe closed in on them but the sheer will to beat one another kept the two of them in front.

"Adam goes in for the final jump!" the announcer says with anticipation as Adam flies off of the lip of the jump. Adam pulls a perfect ollie in the air and sticks the landing at the bottom of the jump perfectly. "A perfect jump! Adam is sure to win this one!"

Cherry Blossom and Joe squat down further to increase their speed in anticipation for the jump.

"Carla, calculate the landing time."Cherry Blossom commands.

"Affirmative, master." Carla replies. "5.12 seconds."

Both of them fly off of the lip. In mid air, Cherry Blossom swore that he and Joe made eye contact and that it felt like it was in slow motion, Cherry Blossom feeling the intensity of Joe's eyes and his will to win. This slightly distracted him from sticking the perfect landing so he wobbled a bit on the landing.

"Joe performs a perfect jump! Cherry Blossom holds onto the landing! Here comes the others!" the announcer said.

Adam crossed the finish line with an intense feeling of pride and raised his arms as the crowd cheer wildly for him. Joe crossed the finish line following closely behind Adam. Next, following close to Joe, Cherry Blossom crosses the finish line.

Skidding to a stop, Joe flips up his board and smirks, "I guess your fancy calculations didn't work out for you too well this time."

"I just got Carla recently. Someone like you who goes off of just feeling will encounter flukes on the course." Cherry Blossom sneered. "I will always be consistent, unlike you. And what's with that crappy-looking board?"

"It's not crappy-looking, it's retro! It looks more like a skateboard than that piece of metal you ride on-"

"Carla is not a piece of metal! Why you-"

Screams from girls accompanied him as well as requests for autographs. The only thing on his mind was beating Joe at the S Grand Prix Finals. Nothing else mattered to him.

"Congratulations, Joe! You weren't half bad!" Adam said to Joe as Joe was interacting with the crowd.

"Don’t act so friendly, Adam. I know you'll do whatever it takes to win, even if it means playing dirty. Even if you won this time, I'll beat you this next round."

"Oho? I like your confidence! I want to see your best at the finals. Just try to keep up with me. I want some actual competition this time." Adam said as he picked up his board and walked out of the finish area.

"Oh don't worry. I'll kick both yours and Cherry's asses." Joe whispered under his breath. He headed towards the hotel that he and the contestants stayed at.

"I need a drink."

At the hotel, Joe changed out of his racing clothes and into normal clothes. He slipped on some jeans and a button down and headed downstairs for a drink at the bar. Since no close friends or family came with him to see him race (besides his childhood friend who happened to be his rival in this competition, Cherry), he wanted to meet new people at the bar, hopefully many of them being cute girls.

"Can I get a brandy?" Joe asks the bartender, showing him a fake ID. Him, Cherry, and Adam all got them last year and none of them have been caught yet. As he sits down in an empty seat next to some people that he did not recognize. The people next to him look at him and recognize him.

"Nice racing out there today, Joe!" one of them says. Joe recognizes one of them to be a competitor in the race that didn't make it to the finals.

"Thanks! You weren't too bad yourself!" Joe replies with a smile. Even though Joe is a pretty muscular guy and has a manly look, he's a big softie on the inside and tries not to blush when getting compliments. He must keep a confident, lively demeanor because that is what he is known for.

"Still," Joe said, casting his eyes down to his brandy, "three contestants ended up in the hospital because of Adam. That guy plays dirty."

"And he looks like he's having fun when he makes someone fly off of their board, too. It shouldn't be allowed."

"Yeah but he's the one who started 'S' racing so whatever he says goes. This competition is basically set up to glorify him in the skateboarding world."

"If you're aware of that, they why are you competing?"

Joe took a large gulp of brandy and put it down with a swallow followed by a sigh, "Because I have a score to settle with him...and with Cherry Blossom. Aino- I mean Adam used to never skate like this. Since when did he change?"

The rest of the time at the bar was a blur. Joe and the other contestants drank a lot that night in celebration for Joe's victory. Joe flirted with a lot of women, being the chick magnet that he is.

"Just one more shot, Joe!" one of the contestants said, slurring his words significantly. “Pretty please, Joe?” one of the girls asked with an innocent voice.

"No thanks but I'm good." Joe replies respectfully. All of the sudden, Joe hears lots of noises coming from the other room next to the bar. He peeks in and sees Cherry Blossom, Adam, and some other contestants drinking together. Adam keeps pouring Cherry Blossom more alcohol and Cherry Blossom kept drinking it. _Why is Kaoru with that bastard?_ questioned Joe but he was too drunk to comprehend. He went back to his group at the bar.

It was 3:43 am when everything started to die down. Joe went back up to his hotel room, his vision fuzzy and head swirling. _Gotta make it back to my room,_ he thought. He stumbled down the hall and fumbled his wallet for his key card to get into his room. He dropped his wallet and bent down to pick it back up. From behind him, he hears the elevator ding and sees someone come out. He turned around as he carefully stood back up to see Cherry Blossom, holding the wall for support as he walked. He seemed to be extremely drunk and out of his mind.

 _He really took me beating him rough_ , thought Joe. He finally got his key card out of his wallet and unlocked his room. Right before he entered his room, he heard a large thud from behind. Cherry Blossom had collapsed onto the ground. Joe, feeling slight pity and worry, went to check on him.

"Hey." he said sternly, keeping his strong demeanor in case Cherry Blossom planned to catch him off guard or if one of the other contestants or spectators caught him. He looked over both shoulders to make sure he wasn't being watched. He knew he was being too paranoid and bent down to check on him. Cherry Blossom made no reaction when Joe poked at him.

"You've always been a light weight, huh, Kaoru?" Joe said with sympathy in his voice. "He might be my rival when we're competing, but he's still my friend."

"Hey. Which room is your room?" Joe asked Cherry Blossom. No response. Cherry Blossom just laid there on the ground. Even though it was uncomfortable for him, Joe took out his wallet and checked for his room card. Inside his wallet was a picture of them as a kid as well as Adam, all of them holding skateboards with cute, blushing faces. Joe, slightly reminiscing on the memories of them being childhood friends, got distracted looking at the photo. He shook his head and continued to look for a key or room number. There was nothing in his wallet that specified his room number and Joe was too drunk to scan every door in the hallway. Cherry Blossom could be on the wrong floor for all he knew. He also wondered if he should call for help but he thought that was a bad idea.

"I guess you'll have to come back to my room." Joe sighed. "I can't have you deteriorate your condition before you race me again."

Joe picked up Cherry Blossom and put his arm around his shoulders. "Can you walk?" he asked. Cherry Blossom took small steps with Joe, as Joe could barely walk himself. He helped Cherry Blossom onto his bed and took a blanket a pillow to sleep on the floor.

"Drink water." Joe said as he gave Cherry Blossom a bottle of water some minutes later. Cherry Blossom took small sips and put his head back on the pillow. "You were always...a softie." Cherry Blossom slurred his words.

"Don't think this means anything. I need to beat you at the finals. That is all. You are my rival after all." Joe replied, still keeping his strong demeanor.

"Kojiro...You don't...have to pretend...anymore." Cherry Blossom muttered. "I know...it's an act."

 _But I do have to pretend. I can't be weak anymore,_ thought Joe. _I can't go soft on him just because we were friends in our childhood._

Joe pondered his words but decided to confront Cherry Blossom himself. "Ever since we started competing, our friendship grew apart. But friendship would also get in the way of our rivalry. That is what we are known for. Our rivalry. I won't let my demeanor change outside of closed doors just because we were childhood friends." Joe asked.

"You're not as tough...as you act like you are." replied Cherry Blossom. "And I...cherished our friendship...even though we constantly bickered. We're just rivals...and I want to beat you...but I don't want to be strangers anymore...we've grown so far apart since competing..."

Joe dismissed everything Cherry Blossom was saying because he is too drunk to think, much less even talk. Joe turned off the lights, laid on the floor, and looked out of the window.

_You never really grew apart from me, huh, Kaoru...?_


	2. Why Are You Helping Me?

Joe woke up the next morning, the sunlight hitting his eyes through the blinds. He sat up from the flood, his blanket folding off of his muscular chest. He rubbed his aching head and looked around.

 _What happened last night?_ he questioned himself.

He then heard the rustling of sheets from his hotel bed and a soft moan. He peeked over the end of the bed to see sleeping Cherry Blossom, peacefully asleep on his hotel bed.

_Oh yeah. I forgot._

Joe scooched to the head of the bed for a closer look to make sure Cherry was okay from drinking so much last night. Joe couldn't help but notice Cherry's silky, pink hair, which is unusually messy from sleeping. Joe is always used to seeing his hair nice and tidy. Cherry has been one to take very good care of his hair. Joe's eyes were fixed on the sleeping man's hair, which shined in the morning sunlight pouring into the blinds. Joe assumed that Cherry has a very extravagant hair treatment routine because his hair was so well-kept.

 _I don't know why but I really want to touch his hair._ Joe thought. _I don't know if he's a light sleeper or not so I'd better not_.

Joe kept staring at his lustrous hair, longing to touch it to see if it was just as soft as it seemed. Before he knew it, Joe's hand was reaching for Cherry's hair. Finally, after it seemed like an eternity, his fingertips met with a lock of Cherry's hair. Joe had never felt anything so soft. He moved his hair in between his fingers to bask in the softness of Cherry's silky smooth hair and never wanted this moment to end.

Unnoticed by Joe because of his attention being on Cherry's hair, Cherry started stirring in his sleep and woke up to see an arm over his face. He sprung up from his pillow and hit Joe's arm with his forehead. This scared Joe shitless because it was so sudden. He retracted his hand as fast as he could.

"W-What are you doing?" cried Cherry, looking at the culprit. His vision being fuzzy from sleeping, his vision finally focused on a freaked-out Joe, sitting at his bedside.

"J-Joe! Where am I? Did you kidnap me?" Cherry spluttered.

"Relax, Kaoru. I only helped you after you passed out on the damn ground after drinking last night." Joe said, turning his head away. Joe got up and went to the hotel fridge and brought over a bottle of water for Cherry.

"Drink this. It'll help with the hangover."

Cherry took the bottle, reluctantly, and drank in large gulps. He then set down the water at his bedside and gathered his hair to one side. He whipped off the comforter and stepped onto the group. He winced badly and fell sideways over back onto the side of the bed.

"Take it easy, Kaoru! I don't need you falling over again!" Joe exclaimed. "I don't need you injured before I kick your ass...again."

"Don't patronize me!" Cherry sneered. " And I'm fine so back off!" Cherry got up from off of the bed, stepped on his right leg, and stumbled again. He groaned in pain and started limping to the door leading out of the room.

"You are not fine, Kaoru. You're ankle looks like it's in a lot of pain. Don't try and act all tough." Joe said to Cherry as he started limping away. He then tried to touch Cherry's shoulder to stop him from walking.

"Don't touch me!" Cherry protested.

"What's going to happen if Adam finds out about that ankle?" Joe questioned. Cherry stopped dead in his tracks and hesitated.

After finally getting the protesting Cherry to sit back down, Joe got his first-aid kit from his suitcase and started treating Cherry.

"A sprained ankle. Right before the finals." Joe sighed. "I was so looking forward to kicking your ass in the finals...again...while you're in your best condition."

"You won the last one with luck. Don't think you're going to win the next one, you brawny gorilla." Cherry retorted.

"Hey! Who are you calling gorilla?" Joe replied. Joe continued to wrap his ankle for him in a very perfectionist-like way. Cherry was very surprised to see Joe take this much time and concentration to wrap his ankle. He didn't even know that he even knew how to wrap an ankle, much less this perfectly.

"Since when did you know how to wrap an ankle?" Cherry asked.

"Remember how I used to sprain my ankles a lot trying different tricks?"

"Yeah you did end up with sprained ankles pretty frequently."

"Instead of constantly going to a doctor or nurse to get my ankles wrapped, I learned how to do it myself."

"You're constantly helping out in the training room at our high school." said Cherry, looking down at his hands.

"Yeah I do spend a lot of time in there. " Joe said, closing up his first-aid kit and stowing it away.

"You've been blowing me off after school to go work out and help out in the training room a lot recently." Cherry clarified.

"Oh yeah...I do work out a lot, huh?"

"You do. Maybe that's why you don't have a brain. Because you work on your muscles more than your brain."

"Oy! Not everyone is naturally gifted with a brain like yours, Kaoru! I'm not a 'top of the class' student like you are."

"Still...I'm confused about why you're helping me right now." Cherry said softly. "Why help me if you want to beat me? Wouldn't your opponent having a sprained ankle give you an advantage?"

"You're right about one thing. I do want to beat you. But beating you while you're injured isn't a true victory for me."

Cherry got up to feel his new ankle wrapping. He shifted his weight on it to see how much the pained lessened. Joe got some pain killers out of the bathroom.

"I know that that's not your only reason for helping me. You're worried that Adam will send me to the hospital if he finds out that I'm already weakened, am I correct?" asked Cherry, trying to extract Joe's true reason for helping him. "And with an injury, Adam would be more enabled to take me out. And with Adam being a very skillful skater with a lot of maneuvering abilities, I would not be able to escape from him as easily due to my injury. "

"It's not just you! I don't want him to hurt anyone else, especially the one I'm supposed to beat. If the people who run this race find out that you're hurt, they'll discourage you from participating in the race and Adam will plan accordingly to take you out. We are the only two competitors that he has to worry about so if you get ahead of him, he'll find a way to use your injury to knock you off the course." Joe explained. "He only started doing this recently. Is he that paranoid that he thinks someone is going to surpass him that he feels the need to skate this way?"

"This is the first intelligent thing I've heard you say in a long time." Cherry chortled.

"Hey! It's not like I'm hopeless, smart-ass!" replied Joe, becoming slightly red in the face.

"Still," continued Cherry, "even I make mistakes in calculations sometimes. I'm still kind of upset that a bone-headed man like you helped open my eyes to my own situation."

"Oy!" exclaimed Joe.

"There's also the problem of having my ankle heal in the next 5 days. It can take anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks for a sprained ankle to heal, but it also depends on the person." pondered Cherry.

"I know some remedies for sprained ankles. After all, I have gone through what feels like hundreds of them."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Take off your clothes, Kaoru!" Joe said, jumping into the bath. Water splashed outside of the bath and onto the ground next to Cherry.

"I can't believe I let you drag me to a bathhouse. And it's Cherry Blossom in public, Joe!" Cherry Blossom yelled, guarding his eyes from Joe's lower quarters.

"Get in! It'll help relieve your ankle!"

"I don't believe I need to take off all of my clothes to dip in my ankle, much less even get all the way in."

"You're no fun, Kaoru!" Joe teased him, splashing some water to annoy him.

"It's Cherry Blossom! And even if i got in, I will be at the opposite end of the baths as you! I don't need your idiocy poisoning my air anyways."

"Fine. You win. Just get in!" Joe pestered. Cherry began unbuttoning his shirt and Joe waded to the other side. Of course, if anyone saw them bathing together, they would get suspicious. They are popular among fans for their rivalry, after all.

"It's a waste to see the wrappings you just gave me come off." Cherry said, starting to unwrap the bandages from his ankle. "They have only been on for an hour."

"I'll just wrap it again when we get back." Joe replied.

Cherry started undressing after his wrappings were off. Joe watched Cherry's pale, tender fingers slowly unbutton his shirt. Joe shook his head and looked up at the ceiling. He stared at the steam rising off of the hot water up into the air. Before he knew it, Cherry put his hair up in a towel, to avoid it getting wet, and stepped into the water. He didn't remove his shorts because he does not let just anyone see him exposed. Joe couldn't help but watch Cherry from the other side of the bath him move gingerly into the water. Even though Cherry has a feisty personality, he also has a sort of delicateness to him, like a flower. Perhaps that's how his 'S' name came to be, or it could have been that his last name is Sakurayashiki. It could even be because of his pink hair. Whatever the reason, Joe could see where it comes from. He continued watching Cherry wade to sit in the corner and bask in the hot water. Joe started edging closer just to annoy him.

"Don't you dare." Cherry said without opening his eyes. The sound of Joe moving around in the water was enough for him to know of Joe's annoying intentions. Cherry, deep in thought and keeping a closed-off demeanor, wanted to peak at Joe's muscles, glistening with water droplets accompanied by the steam from the bath. He kept convincing himself that he has no such wishes and kept his eyes closed. He pushed away any thought of Joe being more than a competitor or friend. What would be of their reputation if they advanced any more? Of course, Cherry kept telling himself that he had no wish of advancing any further.

Around 30 minutes have passed and both Joe and Cherry sat in silence.

Startling Joe, the sound of the door opening entered the bathhouse. Joe, trying to see through the steam, could only make out a tall, male figure. As the figure walked, Joe could tell who it was just by his walk.

"I see that you two are having fun." the figure said with a chuckle.

Cherry opened his eyes to see Adam smiling at both of them in a way that seemed evil. He just stood there staring, in his fancy hotel bathrobe with a cocktail in hand. He wore a bathrobe with a hood, which casted a shadow on his face. This is so that people won't recognize him as Ainosuke, the business man, and jeopardize his position and reputation at his company.

"Adam." Joe sneered.

"Oh? Should I leave you two alone then? I thought we were friends!" Adam smirked.

"The recent incidences you've caused on the course to the other competitors really makes us question our friendship with you." Joe retorted, giving Adam a very angered expression. "We were just leaving, anyways."

Cherry said nothing and kept staring at Adam with an expression that Joe couldn't quite comprehend. He then realized something important.

 _If Adam sees Kaoru limping, he'll know that he's injured. I need to create a diversion..._ Adam thinks to himself. He gives Cherry a look of concern and Cherry, being the smart man that he is with a keen ability to read Joe, understands. 

Joe starts frantically thinking of options to get Adam's attention somewhere else so that Cherry can sneak out. Cherry just sits there and keeps his attention while Joe is thinking.

 _What do I do?_ Joe thought frantically, his mind pacing, _The next move I make can jeopardize Cherry's position in the race. If he finds out about his injury..._

The chirp of Adam's cellphone broke Joe's concentration.

"Looks like I have business to attend to. I'll be back." Adam said as he walked out of the bathhouse with his phone up to his ear.

"Come on, Kaoru." Joe said, wading quickly through the water. "Grab your stuff. We're making a run for it."

"I can't run, you oaf, I'm injured." Cherry retorted, pushing himself out of the water. As Cherry grabbed his stuff, Joe picked up Cherry and started running with him.

"W-what the hell!? You stupid gorilla what are you doing? Put me down!" protested Cherry, jabbing Joe with his free elbow.

"This would work a lot better if you were quiet." Joe whispered. He hid behind a pillar and waited to see if there was anyone in the locker room. When he saw no one was there, he advanced outside of the locker room. He peaked out the door and dashed over to the stairwell.

"How do you know no one will be in the stairwell?" hissed Cherry, still squirming around in Joe's arm.

"People typically use the elevator. Haven't you noticed?" Joe said, starting to run up the stairs.

"I will kill you if anyone sees us like this." Cherry said through his teeth.

They finally made it back to Joe's hotel room and Cherry releases himself from Joe's grasp as fast as he could.

"That was a very bold move. What if someone saw us?" scolded Cherry. "Why do you care this much that Adam doesn't see me injured?"

"I already told you." Joe sighed. "Will I have to repeat myself again? Or did you understand the first time?"

Cherry became silent and sat on the bed.

"We're gonna give your ankle an ice bath next."

"Why can't I just wear a brace so that I don't have to keep coming back to you for wrappings?"

"Because the tight bandages helps reduce the swelling. Besides, won't people ask questions if you or I go out and buy a brace?"

Cherry had nothing to say in response to this. The most he could do was trust Joe, since he knows the most about healing injuries.

"I'll go get ice. You stay here. And don't try to walk!" Joe said, leaving the hotel room.

A few moments later, Joe came back with a bag of ice and an ice bucket, which is typically provided at some hotels for keeping champagne or wine cool. For Joe, it was the perfect way to submerge Cherry's ankle in cold water to decrease the swelling. Joe pored water into the bucket along with ice cubes. He felt the water and when he deemed it was the right temperature, he started to grab Cherry's leg gently.

"Hands off! I can do it myself!" exclaimed Cherry, yanking his leg away from Joe.

"If you hit your foot on the side, it'll hurt." Joe said.

"Why do you care?" Cherry scoffed, looking away. He shoved his foot in the ice bucket, ignoring Joe's helping hand. When he stuck his foot in, he shuddered violently and yanked it back out.

"So cold!!!!" he cried.

"That's the point. It'll help decrease the swelling. You'll get used to it after a few minutes, anyways." Joe replied calmly. Cherry put his foot back in and winced.

"I'm going to set a 15 minute timer." Joe explained, pulling out his phone.

Cherry pushed up his glasses and looked away. Feeling restricted by the towel that was still on his head, he slipped it off, letting his long, pink hair free. Joe looked up from his phone to see Cherry Blossom shaking his hair out. Of course, it comes out of the towel looking perfect as ever.

"You wouldn't happen to have a tie, would you?" Cherry asked.

"I don't have any because my hair isn't long enough yet. Besides, why don't you wear your hair naturally anymore? It looks good like that."


	3. Decisions and Realizations

Cherry went back to his own room, which was all the way down the hall, leaving Joe alone in his room. Joe flicked on the TV on to the news channel as he was rummaging through his suitcase to get dressed to go practice. After all of this stuff going on with Cherry, he needed to focus on himself and get into the right mindset to win the finals. He grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and started drinking. All of this sudden, a statement on the news peaked Joe's attention.

"Young prodigy businessman, Ainosuke Shindo, finds an extravagant business deal in America..." the news reporter on the TV says, as a picture of Adam shaking hands with another American businessman appears on the screen. Joe realized that's probably the call he got when he was in the bath house. Since when did he make this decision? Without telling either of his friends?

Even though Adam has been doing some messed-up things on the race course, Joe still considered him a friend...at least for now. Was he really not going to tell his two friends about moving to America for who knows how long? Joe, infuriated, made his way to Cherry's room down the hall, enraged. He knocked on Cherry's door, a bit loudly, and Cherry opened the door, clad in a silk hand-embroidered robe, which he usually wears when he lounges around his room.

"What is it now, Joe?" Cherry said with frustration in his voice. "Get in here before someone sees-"

Cherry grabbed Joe by the arm and yanked him into the room.

"What do you want?" Cherry said, looking away from him as he sat on the edge of his bed. Joe leaned against the wall and sighed.

"Turns out that Ainosuke has a business deal in America, " Joe started. " _And_ he decided to take it."

"What?! Where did you learn this?" exclaimed Cherry, quickly standing up from the bed, wincing, and then sitting back down.

"It was just on the news. It's confirmed that he's going to America for this deal."

"And he never even thought to tell us? Aren't we his friends?"

"Maybe he's just waiting until after the race to tell us, so that we wouldn't be distracted...but that's not usually like him." Joe contemplated, playing with the hole in the bottom of his worn shirt.

"So he really does plan on leaving us behind after all...and I thought skating was everything to him."

"His father heavily discouraged him from skating. That's why he always did it in secret. But I guess his priorities have changed. He has even more of a motive to win this race so we must be careful."

Cherry looked up at Joe, "Shouldn't we confront him about how he's been skating recently? About all of the people he's injured?"

"I think that would egg him on even more." Joe replied.

"There has to be something! He can't just do that! And what if something happens to one of us?" exclaimed Cherry. Joe hesitated on this question. Would Adam really go this far to win this race by hurting one of his friends? Even if they are his competitors?

"I don't think Ainosuke would do that to us. I was just taking a precaution on your injury in case he had that in mind. He has always been hard to read."

"So you still think there's a possibility? We can't just go off of shallow guesses-"

"I don't know, Kaoru!" yelled Joe, cutting off Cherry. Cherry looked at Joe, wide-eyed with surprise. He hasn't seen him this worked up in a long time. Joe turned his head and leaned it against the wall of the hotel room.

"Look. Despite us being competitors, I still cherish our friendship, even if our competitiveness has gotten in the way a bit. I don't want to see you hurt. That's all." Joe finally admitted.

"I believe that ever since Ainosuke got serious about skating and became really invested in the sport, even creating his own contests and competitions, I think that his competitiveness rubbed off on us. I think we've been too blind to notice until now. You've noticed us growing apart, haven't you," Cherry pushed up his glasses, "Kojiro?"

Joe finally left Cherry's room and went back to his own to grab his board to go skate. He replaced his worn shirt with a button down shirt, which he left open, grabbed his board, and walked out the door. He rolled his skateboard on the concrete with his hands, took a running start, and jumped on. He took a few pushes to gain momentum. His mind still cloudy from his conversation with Cherry, he was just boarding aimlessly at this point. Although he knew he was going a pretty long distance, riding his motorbike doesn't give him the same feeling as skateboarding does. He didn't even think to navigate to the skate park or course. He just wanted to skate and to keep going until his wheels burned out. He wanted to feel what it was like to not have a goal, since his only mindset as of recently has been to beat Cherry and, potentially, finally beat Adam. He wanted his mind to finally clear itself of all of his burdens and for his mind to be free and weightless. Skateboarding was supposed to be fun but was he having fun constantly competing against his two friends? He pushed this question away and continued to skate aimlessly.

After what seemed like forever that he was dwelling on his thoughts, he ended up in the city. The city was around 5 miles away from the hotel. He popped up his board by its forked end and grabbed the front and proceeded to walk, putting his board under his arm. The city was such a different environment from the course. Both were loud and had lots of people, but they were so different. The duality of the world boggled Joe's mind and it almost reminded him of Cherry. _Why is he on my mind so much?_ Joe thought to himself. He looked at his watch and it was almost 5 pm.

"I guess I can hit the bars."

Cherry was contemplating whether or not to leave his room. If Adam saw him limping around, he would definitely be a target during the finals. He also didn't want anyone else seeing him so that he wouldn't be discouraged from racing. But more than anything, he wanted to be taken seriously. His image meant a lot to him and he spent a lot of time building it up in the skating world. He didn't want to make any unnecessary or bold moves. He felt as if all of his moves had to be calculated. Despite having a different way of thinking than Joe, they were still friends and got along, almost like opposites that attracted. On the skating course, however, their differences of opinions caused tension between them. Nonetheless, at least they agreed on one thing as of recently: the way Adam has been skating is unacceptable.

Cherry tightened the belt on his silk robe and continue to dwell on this thoughts. There were so many decisions for him to make and any wrong decision could jeopardize himself something he cared about. He rested his back on the headboard of his bed, bent his left leg, and extended his right leg onto a pillow. Joe had told him to trace the ABC's with his foot to get blood flowing through the ankle and so that the swelling goes down and so that it does not get stiff. Cherry started doing Joe's exercise while Joe continued to ring in his mind. This caused him to reminisce on the old days. The two of them were very close and spent a lot of time together. Especially during high school, they would constantly hang out. They often liked to make a little mischief and got into a little bit a trouble sometimes. A vert slight rift was caused in between them due to skateboarding, however. Adam, spurring on competition between the three of them, caused the two of them to slightly drift apart, although they did not realize it until recently. The three of them were about to graduate high school anyways, so they didn't know how their friendship would change after that. Cherry did see his friendship with Adam being slightly on the edge. The fact that he would hurt others for fun when racing. It made Cherry sick.

Thinking of Adam, Cherry had a realization: since they still had 5 days before the finals on Friday, they had school. Adam is in their class. This caused Cherry some concern because he didn't want to limp in front of Adam. Cherry hurriedly picked up his cellphone and called Joe.

While Joe was at the bar, flirting with some girls and having a few drinks, his cellphone started buzzing, which he ignored because he didn't think it was important. Of course, Cherry knew that Joe was horrible at answering his phone calls so he continued to call Joe to annoy the living shit out of him.

After 6 calls from Cherry, Joe realized who it was. "One second, ladies, let me see who is calling me." he said, taking out his cellphone.

"Ugh that bastard again?" Joe groaned.

"I need to take this I'll be right back. Don't you go anywhere!" Joe said, blowing them a kiss.

Joe stepped outside of the bar, the chilly spring wind hitting his face. He put his skateboard down and leaned it against the wall as he opened up his flip phone to take the call.

"What is it this time, Kaoru?" Joe said with annoyance in his voice.

"KOJIRO! YOU IDIOT! HOW MANY TIMES DO I NEED TO CALL YOU FOR YOU TO ANSWER THE PHONE?" Cherry's voice came screaming through the phone, which caused Joe almost to drop it.

"Jeez, Kaoru! What do you want? I'm kinda busy right now!"

"It's about going back to school tomorrow. Because, you know, Ainosuke is in our class." Cherry said.

"Crap! I forgot about that!" Joe exclaimed.

"Why am I not surprised?" sighed Cherry.

"Why don't you just skip school?"

"Because finals are coming up and I actually care about doing well on them!"

"Oh yeah I forgot those things were coming up."

"So, what do we do?"

"You mean what do you do? You just don't get up from your seat the whole day."

"That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard."

"But does it work?"

Cherry pondered.

"I mean I guess it can work."

"Okay then it's settled. I gotta go now so bye, Kaoru!" Joe said hurriedly, closing his phone before Cherry could protest. He hurried back inside to see if the girls he was talking to were still there.

Before he stepped completely into the bar, he realized something that would cause a problem for him. First of all, he had to get back home to go to school tomorrow. Second of all, the way he got from his house to the hotel was by his motorbike. Third of all, he had been drinking. And he never drinks and operates any kind of vehicle.

 _Crap_.

Joe called Cherry back, who answered on the first few rings.

"What is it, Kojiro? I'm packing my stuff right now."

"Yeah about that...I need a ride."

"You've been drinking, haven't you?"

"...yeah..."

Joe took a taxi back to the hotel. He forgot that he had to be out of the hotel room by 6:00 pm and it was 5:45 pm. He got back to his room and started throwing everything into his suitcase.

After packing frantically, he pulled his suitcase out to meet Cherry, who was already on his own motorbike. Panting, Joe opened the hatch in the back of the bike to find that it was full of Cherry's stuff.

"Yeah you're going to have to strap your suitcase onto yourself." Cherry snickered at Joe.

"I forgot how high-maintenance you are." Joe rolled his eyes, taking some work-out bungee chords out of his bag. He looped it around his suitcase and put the chords around his chest. It was kind of tight so he had a harder time breathing.

He put on his helmet and got onto the back of Cherry's bike, which caused Cherry to almost lose footing from one side because he didn't expect Joe's extra weight.

"Geez, Kojiro! Lay off the snacks!" Kaoru provoked Joe.

"Hey! It's muscle weight! I'm gaining muscle!" Joe snapped. Joe grabbed Cherry around the waist, which caused Cherry to jolt and almost jump out of his own skin.

"You okay, Cherry? Your face is very red." Joe questioned.

"I-I'm fine, Kojiro, let's just go." Cherry said, shoving his helmet onto his head, kicking off, and engaging the motor.

Holding onto Cherry was a new experience for Joe. He had never had any physical touch with him, besides nudging or hitting each other or fist bumps. Other than that, they hadn't had any other forms of physical touch. Joe, who had been friends with Cherry for years, is having an entirely new experience unfold before his eyes. The feeling of Cherry's tender waist in between Joe's arms made his heart pound. What was this new feeling? He wanted to hold on tighter but Cherry would probably fluster at that. Even so, Joe slightly tightened his grip on Cherry's waist.

Trying to tell himself that Joe was just trying to hold on, Cherry's face turned red under the visor of his helmet and his heart started beating faster.

_What is this feeling?_

Cherry shrugged off his feelings and continued to head towards his house. When he arrived at his house, Joe was still hanging on.

"You can let go of me, you idiot!" Cherry exclaimed, wriggling himself out of Joe's grip.

"I thought you were going to drop me off at my house?" Joe questioned.

"There are several reasons why I am not taking you over to your house. First, your house is kind of far from the hotel and on the opposite side of the school. Second, I don't want to have to keep picking you up and dropping you off at your house. It's annoying. Therefore, you are staying in the guest room in my house. Plus, conveniently, no one is home so nobody will care." Cherry explained. He hopped off of the bike and started unloading all of his stuff.

"If you say so, Kaoru." Joe smirked, unstrapping his suitcase from his back. "But what will people say if they see us riding up to school together on your bike?"

Cherry froze and his face turned slightly pink. "I will drop you off a few blocks down from the school." Cherry turned away.

"Sounds good to me."

The two of them made their way into the house and set down their things. Joe really liked Cherry's home because it was a traditional Japanese-style home with unique feng shui. Cherry's calligraphy pieces hung all over the house and complimented the decor perfectly. He always had a knack for the arts, especially calligraphy. There was also a small rock garden and a pond full of koi fish. They used to hang out in the garden a lot as kids so the garden was quite nostalgic to Joe. Joe made his way to the guest room because he already knew where it was. The guest room was right next to Cherry's own room and there was a sliding door that connected the two with a latch on either side. Cherry pulled out a futon for Joe and placed it on the floor.

"Isn't it too early to sleep? It's only 6:45." Joe asked.

"Well, what else are we supposed to do? I can't skate board yet so I can't go with you to ride-" Cherry's sentence was interrupted by Joe's stomach growling very loudly. Cherry slowly turned to look at Joe.

"Did you drink on an empty stomach again?" he asked. Joe looked away.

"...yeah..."

They sat in silence for a few seconds.

"Do you...want me to cook you something?" asked Cherry, breaking the silence.

"Yes, please."

Joe was doubled over with hunger on the floor next to the table as Cherry was preparing their meal.

"Geez, Kaoru, how long does it take to make some damn food?" grumbled Joe, rolling over to his other side.

"It takes time to produce a good meal. Any person with class knows that." Cherry replied.

"If I didn't know you and I saw you for the first time, 'classy' would not be the first word that comes to mind. Not with all those piercings."

"Hmph. And so what if they don't look classy? I can still practice class without entirely looking the part." Cherry defended.

"I mean you do look pretty badass." Joe said. He they realized what he said and rolled over to face away from Cherry.

"Was that a compliment from you, Kojiro?" snickered Cherry.

"I- Shut up! Any person with piercings looks badass." deflected Joe.

Cherry continued to cook, taking rather long because he liked to prepare dishes that are actually well-made and presentable, even though it was just the two of them.

"Alright, Kojiro, dinner is served." Cherry said, setting down his prepared dishes on the low table.

Joe stared at the food, mouth watering and almost salivating. It was almost like a feast. Cherry had prepared perfectly-wrapped onigari rice balls, hand-prepared sesame tofu, decorated sashimi, steaming curry-rice, and golden-brown takoyaki, plus some other dishes in the mix. Joe was still taking in all of the food set before him. Cherry sat down on the opposite side of the table on his cushion and looked a Joe, still dazzled at the sight of all of the food.

"What?" Cherry asked, confused by Joe's expression.

"You would think we were serving a whole family with this amount of food." Joe replied.

"I may have went a little overboard but some of these can be left-overs." said Cherry, picking up his chopsticks. "Not that there will be very."

"I don't eat _that_ much!" Joe defended, also picking up his chopsticks and shoveling food onto his plate. Cherry looked at him and Joe froze because he felt his eyes on him.

"I need to eat if I'm going to gain muscle! Someone who's a smarty-pants like you wouldn't understand."

"I have no need for extra muscle like you, you idiot gorilla."

Joe groaned and shoved food into his mouth with annoyance on his face.

After eating almost all of the food, Joe eating almost twice as much as Cherry, Joe rolled over on the floor once again.

"So...full..." he croaked.

"Not yet, you're not. I even prepared dessert the other day and I don't want it to go to waste." Cherry said, taking a tray of green tea mochi. "It's your favorite."

Joe shot up from the floor. Cherry snickered at how easy Joe was swayed with his favorite dessert.

Joe started digging into the mochi, even though he was full.

"I guess people do tend to have a second stomach for dessert." Cherry said, taking a small bite of his own piece of mochi.

"This stuff is so good that my stomach always makes room for it." Joe said, still chewing.

"I had extra ingredients for mochi left over from making some during the New Year's celebration so I decided to make more. Couldn't let good ingredients go stale."

They continued to eat their mochi as silence filled the room, only the sound of their chewing and an occasional clink of a plate. Both of them could feel the heavy tension in the room but decided not to say anything. Finally breaking the silence, Cherry got up from the table suddenly.

"I'm going to take a bath and go to bed so that my ankle gets ample rest. You should go to sleep, too." said Cherry, putting dishes away from the table. Joe got up to help.

"We'll ice your ankle after your bath."

"Do you have plenty of bandage and ankle wrap left?"

"I'll need to get some from the store soon."

"I'll reimburse you."

Joe shook his head. "No need. I'm a guest at your house and this is my way of paying you back."

Cherry sighed. "If that's what you wish. Anyways, I'm going to the bath. You can...do whatever just try not to break anything."

"I'm not that clumsy anymore!" Joe called after Cherry.

After Cherry went to bathe, Joe sat in the living room area and found old photo albums. As he flipped through it, he saw pictures of him with Adam and Cherry as kids. There were many pictures with Cherry as a baby and toddler. He also had a lot of pictures in traditional Japanese wear, which is still a fashion that he partakes in. A majority of the pictures following Cherry's baby pictures were pictures of Joe and Cherry holding skateboards with big, blushing smiles. He missed how happy they were back then and how carefree they were as they explored the infinite realm of skateboarding. When he flipped to their high school years, he noticed the changes in their expressions. This was around the time where they met Adam. They were still happy, but not as bright as they were before. Even though skateboarding was the thing that brought them together, it was also tearing them apart. Most of that was because Adam initiated competition amongst them. Adam started distancing himself more and more after working at his family company. The pictures lessened as high school dragged on and finally came to a stop at the last picture taken in the book, which was a school picture of Cherry.

Joe closed the book as he heard Cherry emerge from his bath. As he walked into the living room, Joe pretended to fall asleep.

"You forgot to help me ice my ankle." he chuckled very softly. "Idiot."


End file.
